Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], November 17 : A relative of four of a family who died in the Saudi Arabia bus accident earlier on Monday said that they were informed by someone abroad about the incident and are trying to gather all possible details.
Muhammad Mansuf, the victims' relative told ANI, "Someone from there called us to inform us about what happened... Four members of my family - my elder brother Muhammad Manzoor, my mother Shohrat Begum, my sister-in-law Farheen Begum, and my niece Shaheen. We wanted to gather all the information as quickly as possible, and arrangements should also be made for us to go there."
Hyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar today confirmed that 45 Indian Umrah pilgrims from Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana died, and only one survived, after the bus in which they were travelling in caught fire near Medina in Saudi Arabia.
Addressing mediapersons here, Sajjanar said the group was travelling from Makkah to Madinah when their bus collided with an oil tanker around 25 km before Medina, triggering a massive explosion. "The fire spread rapidly, leaving no time for most passengers to escape," he said.
According to details shared by the Commissioner, 54 pilgrims left Hyderabad for Jeddah on November 9 for an Umrah tour scheduled from November 9 to 23. Of them, four travelled to Madinah separately by car, while another four stayed back in Makkah for personal reasons. The remaining 46 pilgrims were on board the ill-fated bus.
Out of the 46 passengers, 45 died after the vehicle was completely engulfed in flames. Only one individual, Md Abdul Shoaib, survived. He is admitted to a Saudi hospital ICU and remains in critical condition.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi told ANI that he had spoken to Abu Mathen George, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Riyadh, and contacted two Hyderabad-based travel agencies, providing passenger details to the Embassy and the Foreign Secretary.
He said that there were 42 people on the bus involved in the accident, adding that local reports indicated the bus was travelling from Mecca to Madinah when the crash occurred. Further details on casualties and survivors are awaited.